Simon Harmer has been named as one of the four men’s domestic players have been announced with voting now open for the PCA’s Player of the Month award for July.
Harmer is joined by Glamorgan’s Sam Northeast, Leicestershire’s Colin Ackermann and Gloucestershire’s Zafar Gohar after topping the Men’s rankings for their performances in July. Western Storm’s Sophie Luff, Sunrisers’ Grace Scrivens, Southern Vipers’ Georgia Elwiss and Central Sparks’ Eve Jones have been nominated for the Women’s award.
The players are selected by the PCA’s Most Valuable Player Rankings, which picks out the game’s top performers across each competition, as well as a month-by-month table and overall rankings. The MVP takes into account batting, bowling and fielding contributions as well as match-defining contributions using a unique algorithm developed with CricViz.
The PCA Player of the Month is decided by public vote on thepca.co.uk – with the poll closing on Wednesday 3 August at 11am.
Vote for the PCA Player of the Month across the men’s and women’s games here.
Men’s Player of the Month
Below is a breakdown of the achievements of the top four men’s players in the table for the month of July:
• Simon Harmer (Essex)
Sitting just two points behind the leader, Harmer continued his fantastic summer taking another 19 wickets in the County Championship and five in the Vitality Blast giving him an average of 21.1 for July.
The 33-year-old won the Match MVP award against Gloucestershire taking a five-fer in both innings and ending the game with incredible figures of 13/156 including 8/112 in the second innings, earning him 58 points.
The Essex spinner also showed his capabilities with the bat scoring 50 and 38* against Surrey alongside taking four wickets.
• Sam Northeast (Glamorgan)
With an incredible 701 runs and two hundreds from just five innings in July, it’s no surprise that Northeast leads the MVP Rankings for the month.
Clearly, the standout performance from July was Northeast’s incredible 410* off 450 balls against Leicestershire which earnt him the Match MVP award and 67 points.
The 32-year-old scored 571 runs in the LV= Insurance County Championship and 130 runs in the Vitality Blast and was only out twice giving him an incredible average of 350.5.
Northeast picked up another Match MVP award in the Vitality Blast against Essex scoring 97* with a strike rate of 173 including 10 fours and four sixes.
• Colin Ackermann (Leicestershire)
In third place with 133 MVP points is Leicestershire’s Colin Ackermann. He scored 461 runs across both First-Class and T20 cricket during July giving him an average of 153.7. He also took six wickets at 35.8.
Ackermann won three Match MVP awards in the month, the most impressive of which coming against Sussex where he earnt 51 points for scoring a brilliant 277*.
He also picked up two Match MVP awards in the Vitality Blast scoring 72* and taking 2/21 against Yorkshire and scoring 85 with a strike rate of 193.2 against Northamptonshire.
• Zafar Gohar (Gloucestershire)
Completing an impressive top four is Gloucestershire’s Zafar Gohar with 127 points thanks to three First-Class five-fers.
He also scored 169 runs at an average of 33.8, whilst taking 17 wickets at 24.8 with the ball.
Gohar won the Match MVP award against Northamptonshire taking fantastic match figures of 10/196 and scoring 57 with the bat.
Women’s Player of the Month
Sunrisers’ Grace Scrivens is also in contention for the women’s PCA Player of the Month award.
• Sophie Luff (Western Storm)
Leading the way in the Women’s rankings with 70 MVP points is the Western Storm skipper Sophie Luff.
Scoring 251 runs at an average of 83.6 it’s easy to see why she tops the rankings. Luff won two Match MVP awards, the first against Sunrisers where she scored 100* and earnt 32 MVP points and the second coming against South East Stars for scoring 95.
• Grace Scrivens (Sunrisers)
Just one point behind the leader is Sunrisers’ Grace Scrivens. With an impressive 182 runs at an average of 45.5 and 10 wickets at a fantastic average of 12.3, Scrivens had a month to remember as she moved to the top of the Overall Domestic Women’s MVP.
The 18-year-old won the Match MVP award against South East Stars scoring a run a ball 74 and taking 4/42 from her 10 overs earning her 30 points. She also scored 69 against Storm and took 4/20 against Diamonds.
• Georgia Elwiss (Southern Vipers)
In third spot with 58 points is Southern Vipers’ Georgia Elwiss, thanks to scoring 121 runs at an average of 40.3 and taking four wickets at an average of 32.
She won the Match MVP award against South East Stars scoring a run a ball 115 which included nine fours and a six and earnt her 42 MVP points.
• Eve Jones (Central Sparks)
In the top four for the second month in a row, Jones scored 200 runs with an impressive average of 50 earning her 55 points on the rankings.
The left-hander picked up two Match MVP awards in July, the first coming against Northern Diamonds for scoring 91 and earning 20 points and the second against Southern Vipers scoring 39 runs in a low-scoring game.
